This is a post just to give my past experiences of Vitiligo treatments.
When I was first diagnosed at 13 years old, I was referred to a private dermatologist in Gloucester who told me that Vitiligo was incurable and I would just have to learn to live with it. I then went to a Chinese medicine clinic in Cheltenham which was recommended by a family friend. I was given a natural remedy, and truthfully, I had no clue of the ingredients but it consisted of 24 tablets a day! I took it for six months and needless to say, it had no effect.
My Vitiligo stabilised for a number of years with no obvious new patches appearing but when I turned 18, I decided to look at treatments again. A local Southampton doctor blindly refused to take the condition seriously as he said he “couldn’t see it on me” and argued that “I wasn’t worth treating”. It was only when I showed him medical reports that you are far more likely to control the spread of Vitiligo and re-pigment patches if less than 20% of the body is affected. He finally agreed to give me a steroid cream but the after only 1 months use, Vitiligo patches actually appeared to get bigger so I stopped using it straight away.
At 23 years old, I split from a very volatile 4-year relationship and throughout this time I was under a huge amount of stress. I noticed this seriously affect my Vitiligo, especially on my face. It was only then that I truly decided to investigate this condition in detail and attempt to improve it.
Whilst searching on Google I came across this website written by Eric Fricker. It talks about his search to find a cure for his Daughter’s(Emily) Vitiligo. She suffered from non-segmental Vitiligo and a doctor believed it could be down to nutrient imbalance. Along with supplements, Eric put Emily on a Vegan diet and after a number of months, she started to show re-pigmentation.
This then led me to start looking at my diet and health. I’ve never had a good diet but always been athletic so I’ve stayed slim. I started taking a number of Vitamins each day including Vitamin B12, C, Folic Acid and Milk Thistle. I gave it two or three months and didn’t really see any sign of improvement but I still continue to take Recouleur tablets, purely because it’s easier than taking 10 tablets a day. It may eventually help, as I remember seeing a medical report somewhere that confirmed Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid increase the chances of re-pigmentation within use with UV light (more on UV therapy in another post). I still to this day battle with controlling my diet, I’ve become very educated on importance of eating right from John Robbin’s book May All be Fed: Diet for the New World but being in a job that requires a lot of travel and eating socially both make it challenging to maintain a strict healthy diet. I’m working on it though!
17 Comments
Hi Simon,
Good luck with your appointment with dr schallreuter, she certainly has done fad more research than any other as far as I can tell after 10 years of reading. Regarding UVB light therapy I discontinued this after I got headaches and light sensitivity and it has left me extremely sun sensitive and now get little red sun spots if I get too much. Also I have been told that UV exposure is harmful if you have been exposed to dioxins and increases cancer risk so in any case the long term “little and often” sun exposure combined with good nutrition (esp b vitamins) intake has served me best. It is hard work to ensure proper intake and very slow going but I promise you it works. I’m sure the Dead Sea with high mineral content would only help further. Read DR Leo Montes book : Vitiligo a nutritional approach. This is the best book available.
Hi Missee,
Thanks for the comments!
Yes, I do own and have read Dr Montes book, I tried a number of vitamins for about 5 months and sadly, could see no obvious changes.
I’m off to Germany tomorrow for my consultation with Dr Schallreuter so I’ll update the blog soon.
Simon.
Oh I meant to say I found chlorella supplement really good esp when travelling
HI Simon how did your consult go with Dr Schallreuter?
Qullia,
My consultation was many years ago, I’ve travelled to the Dead Sea since and have been part of the Climatotherapy treatment.
Simon.
Hi Simon! My name is Kristi I live in California, my daughter has had vitiligo since the age of 7. My daughter had approximately 30 or so white patches on her body, they are now mostly confined to her feet and those are pigmenting and closing in as well. I connected with Erik Fricker some years back and started the same protocol he did with Emily. We saw great results but the vitiligo persisted on her knees and feet as well as her hips.
My daughter is now 14 and we have learned so much during this journey. The most important thing that we have learned is to never give up, I believe the answer is inside of us all, we just need to stop and be quiet to hear the answer.
It took only weeks for my daughters vitiligo to slow down, as hers came on rapidly, the vitamins helped greatly but was not enough. I took her to a dermatologist and had her tested for Addison’s disease and any thyroid malfunction. These were blood tests, all came out good, however I did not believe the results. My daughter at the time had many underlining signs that something was not right internally. Some of her symptoms were fatigue, head aches, constant craving for salty pickles and water, couldn’t sleep at night, brain fog, sudden spouts of energy, craved sugary foods and she was always running hot (body temperature).
Eventually I took her to a holistic doctor and told him that I thought perhaps something was wrong with her adrenal glands, he said I don’t think so she is to young to burn them out, but I insisted. So the doctor gave us a saliva test kit. This test checks the cortisol levels in a 24 hour period. Sure enough my daughter had adrenal faitgue. We started her on a herb called ashwaganda wathina. With 2 weeks she was a different kid, within a few months most of her white spots freckled, some faded away. We continued the vitamins and still do to this day. It took a few years to get rid of them all but we saw results fairly fast.
My daughter still has an overactive immune system so we are very careful of what she eats, our diet is pretty strict, no diary, almost no gluten, no over the counter meds and mostly organic food. I believe you have to retrain your immune system as well because if you’ve had vitiligo fo a while your immune system is programmed to attack your melanin.
We also worked on my daughters gut, I believed she had leaky gut as well, she takes digestive enzymes to help make sure her body gets the proper nutrients to heal. Google leaky gut, it’s the culprit for causing an over active immune system. I also believe my daughter had a under active thyroid even though the blood test didn’t show it, so we started her on small doses of kelp, she still takes it today.
i hope this information provides some hope and direction for you. This condition is so frustrating and difficult to deal with, my heart goes out to you. Please contact me if you want to talk or have any questions about my daughters journey or perhaps can share some info that would be beneficial to us, I would love to hear back from you!
Please remember to keep a happy heart it helps immensely in the healing process!!
Kristi
Kristi,
That is a fantastic success story, thank you so much for sharing!
I’m going to reach out to you via email.
Simon
Sounds good!!
Dear Simon,
How are you? My son is 16 and has recently been diagnosed with vitiligo. I would like to contact Kristi please. If it’s ok with her, please give her my email address. Wish you all the best with your healing journey. Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I’ll reach out Kristi on your behalf and give you email address.
Regards
Simon.
Simon,
I see that you removed my email to protect my privacy, thank you. Please pass my email on to Stephanie.
I enjoyed watching your Jordan videos. Thank you for sharing your journey and knowledge with the vitiligo community, you are inspiring many and giving them hope!!!! Wishing you light and love.
Kristi Bruton
Hi Kristi,
I’ve passed it on 🙂
Simon.
Hi Stephanie,
Simon was so kind to send me your post. Please contact me at any time. My email is ****** Looking forward to talking with you.
Kristi Bruton
Simon’s Edit: Kristi I’ve removed your email so you don’t get spammed by the internet. I’ve sent it to Stephanie directly. Thanks!
Kristi – please send me your email I’d ..
Hi Simon! I hope you are doing well. I received a request for my email. I tried to reply but it would not go through. Could you please forward Stephanie my email.
Thank you,
Kind regards,
Kristi
Hi kristi , pls send me ur email id if thats ok with u. I need help as well.
Hello. I can be contacted at 4buterflies@gmail.com.